16 Dec 2012

Here are a couple of details on my MAC order of last week (I posted a summary of all hauls recently here). Besides showing my new MAC items, I'd like to show you the differences between the old 15 palette and the new 15 palette as the new one is available in Germany only since November (and in the US it was released in August or September). Hence, it is new and I have not found any comparison yet.

In this post, you can see my MAC order in the right bottom of the picture. There, the palette is still in its packaging. Have a look here at my order completely unpacked (actually even more than unpacked as I already filled the palette with my bright base eye shadows :-)):

2 Sep 2012

This spring, I bought a MAC LE quad palette which I wanted to depot even before I had it in my hands. For me, the new quad palettes by MAC are too bulky and just not handy and manageable enough. The new design came out in 2010 (see a blog post comparing the new and the old design of the MAC quad palettes by MAC Karrie (in german)) - fortunately, the MAC 15 palette has remained unchanged. This is why I do use 4 of them (deconstructed) as shown in my first make up collection overview post.

Since I am lucky to own 3 MAC quad palettes of the old design (I wish I had bought more of them when they still were available ...) which I love for traveling, I am just boycotting the new design. For storing my eye shadows at home, I use 4 MAC 15 palettes which I have deconstructed in order to able to store eye shadows of different (see my make up collection post). For traveling my three 'old design' quads from MAC are more than enough - 12 well chosen eye shadows should be perfect for travelling. Below, you can see them with 4 MAC eye shadows (Shroom, Vanilla, Patina & Concrete)

The palette, I want to depot today is the Shop & Drop palette from the Shop, Shop, Shop, Cook, Cook, Cook collection (see the full LE at Temptalia). In LE quads, the eye shadows are glued into the palette and
this makes the depotting pretty difficult. My first attempts to depot the eye
shadows, were unsuccessfull. Heating the bottom of
the palette did not help in softening the glue and I just did not find a
way to get rid of this crappy packaging.

15 Aug 2012

I'm going on vacation. Yay! My boyfriend had to force me because I am a bit obsessed with my sports routine and my thesis at the moment. Believe it or not, we even had a bit of a fight when I told him that I didn't have time to take holidays. Well, he convinced me and now I am really glad that he was so persistent and forced happiness upon me.

We'll spend 6 days in a hut in the black forest together with friends. Hence, we will have a lot of fun and a great time hiking, barbecuing, lying in the sun and relaxing. Have a look at what expects me (notice that I've found the picture on the web; this is not our precise destination - but in the black forest it looks like that just about everywhere :-)):

Currently, I am trying to improve my organization in general and this holds also for the organization of my traveling: this means that I am optimizing packing routines and joining similar things together in small bags in order to find them more quickly in the luggage - this holds also for my everyday small distance traveling to University and back. E.g. I pack my electronic stuff together in a small bag, my beauty stuff in another small bag, etc. In this way, I always just have to grab a few small bags and don't have to remember each item itself. I might show you some of my organizational improvements soon.

12 Jul 2012

Before the Artdeco Dita von Teese LE came out recently, I only owned one single blush by Artdeco which is a bright orangey one (Number 11). I love this blush and it is very pigmented. The Dita von Teese LE has been very appealing and since I have read a lot of good reviews by different beauty bloggers of Artdeco eye shadows, I recently bought 4 eye shadows and a blush from the Dita von Teese LE (note that last month, I already bought the other blush that comes with the Dita von Teese LE).

These are the newly bought products in July (all of them are from the Dita von Teese LE):

Here you can see all my Dita von Teese products in the beauty box magnum (on the right you can see the blush 31 (Starlet Pink) which I already bought in June):

I was thinking about buying 2 additional eye shadows from the Dita von Teese line since the colours are really lovely nude every day shades. But I don't like these matte eye shadows. They are too powdery and don't blend well. Actually, I wasn't able to blend them at all. They are also pretty expensive with nearly 5 Euro each and hence, I am really disappointed. It's really no comparison with MAC or Nars and even Catrice and P2 which are really cheap brands as well (a Catrice Mono eyeshadow costs a bit less than 3 Euro and a P2 matte Mono eyeshadow even less than 2 Euro), but still do blend better. I have heard that the non-matte eye shadows by Artdeco are not that bad and better blendable than the matte ones but I definitely won't purchase any eye shadows from Artdeco again since I am really very disappointed! However, I bought these ones and I of course try to use them up nevertheless. Maybe I will like them some day ... who knows. Some products have some hidden values that need some time to be discovered. Nevertheless, I doubt that I'll like these eye shadows some day since I own so many eye shadows that are a million times better. Let's see ...

I do like the blushes, though. Especially the colours that come with the Dita von Teese LE are really lovely and I am happy that I bought them both. The blush 09 is a great every day colour that just looks gorgeous and can be used to create a very natural and nude no-makeup makeup look.

I also do like the beauty box magnum. It's a bit sturdy but also solid and since it is a freestyle palette and the magnet is also very strong, you also can put MAC eye shadows into it and carry them around very conveniently. I also like the huge mirror that is included. The box was indeed a good buy.

Below you can see the beauty box magnum with the Dita von Teese products I own and additionally the Artdeco blush 11 (orange blush) that unfortunately does not fit anymore into the beauty box. These are all Artdeco products I currently own (except for nail products - I do own a couple of nail polishes and nail care products).

If I take one eye shadow out, the third blush does fit into the beauty box. This is how it looks then:

Now I have to decide how I'll fill my beauty box: all Dita von Teese LE products and some single addional depottet eye shadow or rather all 3 Artdeco blushes and 3 Artdeco eye shadows? So many decisions to be made and so little time ... ;-)

6 Jul 2012

Passwords are important. We are using them everywhere and all the time, e.g. when using facebook, when shopping online with an own account, when logging into our own computers, etc. We should take the time to think about how we use our passwords since they are one of the most sensitive security breach. One month ago, linkedin has been hacked and 6.5 million passwords have been posted online. Is yours among them? Mine wasn't. Nevertheless, I changed my password and reconsidered my password routine. Fortunately, I haven't reused my password often but sometimes I did. Of course I changed these passwords, too (and don't reuse them anymore).

Rules of Thumb:

don't use the same password for several web sites/applications (In case you are an average internet user with 25 accounts, you might need a tool where you can safely store your 25 different passwords, e.g. Keepass or Clipperz, note however that the latter is an online site again that might be hacked as well ...)

change your password on a regular basis (in an ideal world this would be weekly but in a normal world less is ok too as long as you change it regularly)

choose secure passwords that are unlikely to be hacked (e.g. not your name or the name of your child attached with the birth year - more inspiration on passwords you shouldn't use can be found among the 25 worst passwords of 2011 ;-))

Below is a nice infographic by Lifehacker visualizing a summary of what you need to know about passwords. It has been posted in this article by Lifehacker which I recommend reading as well since it also provides more advice on passwords.

14 Jun 2012

Thursdays, I usually work the full day at the University. I am a student finishing up her thesis which I can also do at home in theory. But staying at home for 7 days a week isn't good for my productivity, hence I also work at University from time to time and at the moment always on Thursdays. On such days, I of course still try to keep up with my daily sports routine. I do my cycling routine every morning immediately after getting up on my bicycle in my bedroom. This morning was very hurried because I have been out yesterday evening watching the European Soccer Cup 2012 (Germany was playing ... and we won by two goals to one ;-)). Each day, I also try to do as much biking as possible and still be as early as possible at the desk working. The earlier the better becaues I need to get some work done and this evening I can't stay longer since Thursdays evenings belong to my horseback riding course. :-)

This morning, I only managed to do 30 minutes of biking. Not much, but still! Afterwards, I always have to shower and rinse my hair since I perspirate a lot during my training. There is not much time for makeup. This morning, I only managed to do a quick eye care and eye makeup (eye cream (Weleda Wildrose), eye base (Zoeva), skin coloured base eye shadow (something from Alverde), MAC quarry for the crease, Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner in espresso and mascara (L'Oreal Voluminous in Carbon Black)). My eyes look great and I am very happy with my eye makeup. But I didn't have any time for face cream and blush. Hence I'll do this later in a bathroom at University. These are my emergency face products I have taken with me to University:

In summer, I don't need any foundation and concealer. My skin looks great when it is slightly tanned. And since it's not so dry in summer like in winter, it's happy with a skin care for normal skin. With my current face cream, my skin feels great and does not have any red spots anymore. The difference between winter and summer is really surprising. :-)

Hence, my emergeny products consist of a face cream (my current face cream is from Nonique and I love it in summer - in winter it is not nourishing enough), a blush (Nude peach by Bobbi Brown) and a blush brush (the great blush brush from Ecotools).

For working days at University, I also like to keep my makeup natural and beautiful, i.e. like my face but better. It does not have to be no makeup makeup but it should not be too colourful either. It should also stay the whole day as if just applied since I don't want to be bothered with having to reapply my makeup. With an eye base like Zoeva, my eye makeup stays the whole day where it should be. Sometimes I have problems with eye liner and mascara, but the gel eye liners from Bobbi Brown are just perfect and stay the full day. Even without a base. My current favourite mascara is the L'Oreal Voluminous mascara in Carbon Black. It doesn't only create stunning lashes, it also stays the full day - at least as long as it is not raining cats and dogs. Other mascaras tend to show on the lower lid after a couple of hours. But fortunalety not the L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara.

Further beauty and wellness products I like to have with me at University:

The products on the picture are:

silicone earplugs from Wellnoise: These are life savers when having to study in a noisy environment. They are also very comfortable to wear and my favourite earplugs.

Lakshmi khol: It's the colourless "Khol Men Cold" one which is less of a makeup product (it makes the eye ball whiter, however) but more of a wellness product since it is great when I am tired. I just apply it on the waterline and it's cold and it stimulates lacrimation. It's like a wakeup call and even prevents eye inflammation.

Migrastick: This is a peppermint oil stick. It's refreshing when I am tired and mitigates minor head aches.

Essence 2in1 hand & nail balsam: This is a light handcream that is quickly absorbed by the skin and does not disturb an ongoing working and writing process too much. It's not my favourite hand cream, but being sample sized it's perfect for the hand bag.

Gehwol med Nagelschutz Stift: This is a care stick for nails. My cuticles are very dry and my nails are very sensitive and I like to nurture them. ;-)

The only thing missing in the picture is a lip care or a nourishing lip stick. Normally, I don't go anywhere without one. But today I have forgotten it. Too bad ... I am a bit angry with myself and hope I'll survive this day nevertheless. Having very dry lips and being a lip balm addict like me can be a pain in the ass as can be witnessed here.

30 May 2012

Last week. I was on a business trip for 2 days (including travelling, the trip took 4 days, i.e. I stayed for 3 nights alltogether). At first, I packed 3 small bags:

But unfortunately, I threw a lot of beauty stuff into my suitcase on the very
last minute and used just a tiny amount of the huge amount of stuff I
took with me ... But I'll tell you the details later ...

In the bags shown above are my

brushes (in the flat case on the right)

cleaning and medical items and even something for sports (a theraband) (in the middle)

makeup items (in the bag in the left)

skin care (in the bag in the left)

These are the make up items and the make up brushes, I packed at first:

NYX eye shadow palette: Besides being tiny and light-weighted, it is just perfect for the purpose of creating a nude eye make up and just helps giving the perfect amount definition. And you can even build it up for the evening. The eye shadow brushes are: MAC 239, MAC 217 and Zoeva Crease brush.

Benefit Hervana Blush: the perfect nude blush for a fresh & clean look. The brush for this blush is the Ecotools blush brush.

Rival de Loop Aquapowder: it's not the best, but I am determined to use it up as soon as possible! The brush for applying it is the mineral powder brush by Bdellium Tools, i.e. the big green brush in the picture.

Sante lip stick and Elizbeth Arden 8 hour cream lip stick.

Here is an additional picture of the brushes and the case I used for the transportation. It is the Real Techniques case you get when you buy a brush set. I love this case and it is perfect for travelling with brushes.

Again a picture of the make up items plus a brush cleanser (the bottle with the pinkish fluid - this is the MAC brush cleanser I filled into another bottle), eye make up remover pads (refilled into the case of Kaufmann's Haut- und Kindercreme) and a small travelling package of face make up remover wipes by Cadeavera.

Above the brushes, a mirror can be seen. Left of the mirror a pair of tweezers can be seen, manicure stick, nail scissors, a nail file and 3 q-tips. Also a lip balm (Nonique Intensive Kiss) and a hand cream (Nuxe Reve de Miel) can be seen.

Furthermore, I took with me 3 small body lotion samples from Weleda (Citrus, Granatapfel and Sanddorn), a face cream for the day by Nonique, a face cream for the night by Nonique and an eye cream by Nonique. The two bottels above the eye cream and left from the bodylotions are refillable GoToob bottles by Humangear which I filled with shower gel (the big one in green) and with shampoo (the small one that looks orangy - this is not the bottle but the shampoo).
Left from the Humangear bottles, you can see my electric tooth brush, a mouth wash and a tooth paste.

Left from the mouth wash, you can see my medicine (Migrastick, tablettes against head ache and eye drops) and my dietary supplements (Magnesium, Vitamin C, Fish oil capsules, Chlorophyl tablettes). The lilac thing on the left upper part of the picture below is my theraband for a little bit of sports in hotel rooms.

See additional pictures of the packing process:
Skin care and make up have been packed into the first bag, the makeup brushes have been packed as well:

The rest fits into the black bag:

Finished! Everything is packed.

But, as mentioned, I threw a lot of additional stuff in the very last minute into my suitcase and most of the stuff I took with me hasn't been used at all. I don't bother you with a picture of the huge amount of stuff, I threw into my suitcase in the very last minute.

I haven't used so many things because I was travelling by plane and on flights I don't use much makeup. On flights I
prefer to rather moisturize my skin and not to additionally irritate it with makeup. I also prefer to not wear too much makeup when I am doing
business. I'm afraid that people get distracted by the make up and don't
notice anymore who I am or what I say. Nevertheless, I do know that I
might be too careful concerning makeup. There shouldn't be any doubt
that if I make a good impression on everything concerning business no
one would ever notice the makeup - even if I use a lot of it. So, I
guess, I basically don't like to put too much and too colourful make up
on because I don't want to distract myself. ;-)

Here is, what I really used while travelling:

Shampoo & Shower Gel

Tooth paste, mouth wash and my tooth brush (I have forgotten to add them to the picture).

Eye cream and Face Cream for the Night (the one for the day did not provide enough moisture for my skin)

Caudalie Eau de Beauté (inspired by Lisa Eldridge - I like it a lot, it is really refreshing)

Tangle Teezer as hair brush (in the picture with the makeup below)

And for Makeup, I just used:

Nars pure radiant tinted moisturizer, applied with fingers

Benefit Hervana as blush, applied with MAC 168

As lip care & lip stick: Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream stick in Blush

Zoeva Eye shadow base, applied with Bdellium tools brush 778

Mascara MaxFactor 2000 Calorie

MAC Quad (which I threw into my suitcase in the very last minute) with

Vanilla & Shroom as base colours (applied with MAC 239 brush)

Omega (applied with MAC 217) for the Crease and the outer V

Concrete as eye liner (applied with MAC 242)

I haven't used any bodylotion because I just didn't have time. Either I worked until late in the night or I joined socializing events with co-workers. I haven't used all brushes and I haven't used all my eye shadows. Also, I haven't used any powder and only one of the lipsticks I took with me. Next time I'll pack more wisely! For sure! ;-)